Improvement in saddle-cloths



2 sheets sheet 2.

R SPENCER. SADDLE-CLOTH.

Patented Jan- 11 187-6.

No.17Z,058.

N. PETlRi PHOFO-LITNOGHAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C, v

, materials also.

UNITED STATEs ROBERT SPENCER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PATENT j OFFICE.

I IMPROVEMENT IN SADDLE-CLOTHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 172.058, dated January 11, 1876; application filed November 11, 1875. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT SPENCER, of

Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Saddle- Cloths; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My-invention relates to an improvement in saddle-cloths, of which the following is a true and exact description reference being had to the accompanying drawings. I

In order -to make a practical eificient saddle-cloth a considerable thickness of material is necessary, and it is often difficult and expensive to get a proper amount of material in one fabric. Heretofore it has been customary to employ felt fabrics for this purpose, but of late years, owing to the increase in body and the cheapness of woven fabrics, it has become desirable to form saddle-cloths of these It, is of course, impossible to weave a single cloth thick enough to form a saddle-cloth, and it is therefore very desirable so to unite two cloths as practically to make a single cloth of desired thickness.

Theonly way hitherto known of accomplishing this result has been to sew or quilt together such cloths. This is an expensive and troublesome operation, and unless the stitching passes over almost the entire surface of the cloth, the usual result is that, as soon as the cloth is used on a horses back, the pressure and and friction cause it to stretch and form bags .or loose folds, and it is also liable to rip and tear. One of the objects of my invention is to avoid this difficulty. This I acccomplish in the following way:

Two cloths of the same size and shape, and together having the requisite thickness, are employed. Some adhesive material or gum is placed between their contiguous surfaces, and by it they are firmly united and practically form one cloth, so that no amount of friction or rubbing can loosen one from the other. The saddle-cloths made in this way need no stitching nor binding around their edges, and, owing to the increased cheapness of the material and the ease of manufacture, they can be made at much less expense than the previously-known cloths.

It has sometimes been customary to employ a water-proof gum to fasten two cloths together. An objection arises to the use of this water-proof material in the case of saddlecloths, since it would interfere with the proper escape of the horsesperspiration through the cloth, and I have therefore devised the following method of avoiding this difficulty:

The adhesive material or gum is not directly applied to the surface of the cloth, but an intervening material, known'as screen-cloth or canvas, is employed. This material has a large mesh, and is full of'perforatious or holes. The adhesive material into which this screen-cloth is dipped does not fill these perforations, butis retained upon the threads of the screen-cloth. If this material be placed between the twocloths of the combined saddle-cloth, they will be bound firmly together, but at the same time an escape will be allowed through them for the perspiration of thehorse. It is, of course, obvious that more than two thicknesses of cloth may be united together in this way. By inserting a strong firm material between two thicknesses of poorer and weaker material,a great saving in expense is effected. The. poorer cloths are reenforeed by the better and stronger middle fabric, and become as effective as cloths much more expensive. If the edge binding be omitted, a border might bemechanieallyembossed on the cloth from -a plate, either plain or in color. The saddle-cloths thus produced are reversible--that is, either side may be placed uppermost In order to. secure the proper graduation of the saddle-cloth, which is sometimes desirable, I use two methods: In the first place, I at-- tach a graduated cloth, by means of some adhesive material, to a clothof even thickness.

The graduated cloth need not be coextensive with the plain cloth, and may only extend as far as the bearing of the saddle. It should, of course, be placed beneath nearest the horses back. Or, in the second place, I insert between a pair of cloths, properly shaped and cut, a third cloth, having a suitable graduation, which intervening cloth may either extend to the bottom edge of the other cloths tween the cloths may he a very low grade of felt, such as common boiler-felt, the thickness of which I have discovered a means of varying at pleasure. The expense of graduated saddle-clothsis greatly reduced by this means, and a better article is made.

The drawings hereto annexed will now. be described.

Figure 1 is a general view of my improved double saddle-cloth, showing the embossed edge and the junction between the two cloths.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of my double saddle-cloth, united by the joining material or screen-cloth. b and b are the upper and lower cloths, and O is the uniting material or screencloth.

Fig. 3 is a general View, and Fig. 4 a crosssection, of my improved graduated saddlecloth. d and d are the upper and lower cloths. D isthe inserted graduated material. This inserted material might be continued to the bottom of the cloth, and this graduation might be so arranged as to be thickest at A, on the line or hearing under A, and thinner at the top, the saddle resting upon this thick portion, and the perspiration passing through i the upper thinner portion.

I claim l. A compound saddle-cloth, shaped to the horses hack, formed by uniting together two separate cloths, sufficiently thick to form a practical saddle-cloth, by means of an intervening and perforated material, so arranged as to allow the free passage of the perspiration of the horse through the cloth, substantiall y as described.

2. A compound graduated saddle-cloth, formed by uniting together a graduated and an ungrad uated saddle-cloth, substantially as described.

3. 'Acompound graduated saddle-cloth,composed of two cloths of even thickness, and an intervening graduated cloth, so arranged as to make a compound cloth thickest where most thickness is necessary, substantially as described.

ROBT. SPENCER. 

